Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and one of President Obama’s closest aides, has resigned, less than a year after his appointment. Goolsbee will step down in August to return to the University of Chicago, in order to preserve his post as a tenured professor. A replacement has not been named.
Word of his departure comes on the heels of disappointing data for jobs, housing, and manufacturing, but Goolsbee is “absolutely not” leaving because of policy differences with the president, said the White House. In fact, he is expected to play an advisory role in President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
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